Creator updates for upcoming Instant Downloads feature

[Scott]

Hi Everyone,

We wanted to share a quick update about our Instant Downloads offering.

Firstly, the test has not started just yet. We hope to start in the very near future. We'll keep you updated! 🙂

Secondly, if you haven't yet heard, we're going to be adding the ability for customers to download certain products. This is entirely voluntary - you're welcome to opt-out if you wish. More information on this upcoming program can be found in the links below:

• https://www.zazzle.com/creators/playbook/learn+about+instant+downloads
• https://www.zazzle.com/creators/playbook/instant+downloads+faqs

Alright, on to the fun stuff! Tonight we updated our website with some important tools that you can use to prepare your store(s) for our upcoming release. These changes are mostly in your store backend, and include the following:

1. Ability to filter by Instant Download status – either Any, or Enabled, or Eligible. If you want to view products that are already enabled then select Enabled, if you want to view products that are NOT enabled then select Eligible. For other situations leave it on Any.

2. Enable/disable products individually or in bulk. This will allow you to add or remove individual products from the digital offering. This process should be fairly familiar: Select the product(s) then use the Actions dropdown menu to Enable or Disable. If you’re looking to enable multiple products at once I’d suggest filtering by “Eligible” products, then select all of the desired products.

3. Adjust royalty levels for individual products. The Edit Details pop-up box has been updated to include an “Instant Download” section. This will allow you to enable/disable products, and also set the royalty percentage. Please note that we imported all products at set royalty percentages. More information on this can be found here. You’re welcome to adjust the royalty percentage as you’d wish. 

4. New toggle switch for product statistics. We added a toggle switch that will show you either the Printed Stats or the Digital Stats. This will help you track the performance of your products so that you can make more informed decisions on how you offer your products for sale.

5. “Downloadable” badge on enabled products. In your store backend you’ll notice that we added a “Downloadable” badge to products that are enabled in digital format. This should make it a bit easier to spot these products at quick glance.

6. "Sell as Digital" option on the product page. When you're viewing your own products you'll see a gray bar at the top of the page. This contains some links to common actions so that you can update products a bit easier. On the left side of this bar is an option to "Sell as Digital" if the product is not already enabled. You can also click on the Edit Details link and go to the Instant Downloads section to make updates to digital status, as well review/adjust royalty rates.

For now, no changes will be visible on the product pages, even for products that are enabled for digital. We'll probably have a bit more to share when the time comes. I think it's all pretty straightforward on the product page.

Feel free to take a look around and let us know what you think! We'll do our best to answer any questions that may arise, but we hope that these new tools are easy enough to understand that you can get right to work making the desired adjustments to your store(s) and products. If not, we'll be here to help as best as we can. 

And if you've read all this and you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about then hopefully this screenshot will help:

[chefcateringbiz]

I just made 2 products in the same store; one had the digital option toggle buttons at the end of the process, and the other one didn't. One was a poster and one was letterhead.

[Cat]

letterhead isn't eligible for digital downloads but posters are

[chefcateringbiz]

Nuts! Now I have to change all the menu letterhead. Good thing I haven't made too many yet. I thought it wasn't asking me anything because I'm putting them in a separate store where I''ve got the OK-to-download option turned on.

[SwissVillage]

Fantastic!  Looking good.  I love the way it is set up, and it's so easy to enable or disable batch items.  There do seem to be a few glitches with batch enabling ... sometimes I select a group of multiple items and the option to enable does not appear.  I've verified afterwards that all the products in the selected group could be enabled individually - but for some reason the group selection did not work.  It's only happening like that sporadically and I haven't been able to figure out a pattern.   

Also, this morning, when I first went in, for the first product I enabled, the prices and percentages were all wrong, but later in the day they seemed to be working.  (In the morning it showed me that the digital download was going to cost less than a dollar!)

Now let's see if this results in sales when activated!
Good luck to us all!

[mblue]

Are the edits and downloads still unlimited for the customer? And is there any way that the customer can be forced to write in their information, or could they delete all of the text and just download the art?

[Harmony]

still unlimited. and they can delete text

[AudreyJeanne]

I'm working on my backend getting ready for the release and have noted that RSVP's do not seem to be enabled.  Is that still coming?  Is it size related?  Any information will be helpful, if they aren't included wedding suites will be quite an issue.  Thanks!

[CrazyMermaid]

The FAQs explained that not all products would be downloadable and what products would go live at the beginning. 

[Scott]

Correct, we're starting small with this. In the future we do hope to open the testing up to include more product types.

[CrazyMermaid]

I have been designing products in my store this morning that has been enabled for downloads. I think the Zazzle staff has done a great job of writing clear instructions and making the design process very simple to use. I had a clear idea of what products would be downloadable. When I forgot that my invitation would be downloadable, there was the prompt for the downloadable royalty! I did appreciate that. I think for such a big change, the past few days have gone very well. 
 

[klstock]

I am not understanding the pricing. 

I was experimenting with an invitation, clicked to enable for digital, and started playing with the numbers where it says "digital download percentage".. When I enter 50%, for example, it tells me the selling price for the digital download of that invitation would be $1.70. When I enter 99%, it says the price of the digital download would be $85.

So two things....  1. the percentage/math seems screwy. 2. A digital download that they have unlimited edits to, and  after using it can return for their money back ... would be going for only $1.70!? (using the 50% example). That cannot be correct! Am I missing something?

[Cat]

I've been puzzling over the math too because it seems like Zazzle's "standard price" changes as the percentage goes up. Like I can't figure out what the cost for a download would be if the customer created and purchased their own design - i.e. the price with no designer royalty applied. According to this article the math works like this (I think "site price" means the price the customer pays.)

The Site Price is equal to (Zazzle's Standard Price * .9) / (1 - royalty rate).

That implies that the standard price (Zazzle's cut) should stay the same regardless of what percentage we set, but that's not happening here. Then I remembered that for royalties of 15% or over there's a 5% transaction fee. Maybe that explains the wacky math? So maybe they tack on 5% or something? But 5% of what?

Anyhow, my plan is to leave the royalties alone for the moment and just go with Zazzle's recommended percentages, but I wish someone would clarify the math for us because it's seriously making my head spin!

[mskaye]

I'd appreciate it if someone could provide me a link to the "digital download percentage" page or teach me how to get there. Due to my demanding schedule, I don't always have time to check for anything that needs to be updated; also, I am relatively new at posting, making stores, tagging, labeling, and so on. I'm still going around in circles since the site is so overwhelming.

Any advice would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

[Barbara]

@mskaye  I asked the same question and had it answered here:

https://community.zazzle.com/t5/ask-a-question/setting-royalty-rate-for-digital/m-p/60766

Colorwash's Home

[Charlottespence]

When will the instant download feature work for customers?

[igiftcenter]

I am SO far behind with all these awesome new features you've been throwing at us lately.... and this one gave me second thoughts when you first introduced it. And then I couldn't keep track of all the posts about this.
If I feel like jumping in the game is it too late to opt in?

[john]

I am confused. The options show Any, Eligible and Enabled. Which one do I select to STOP instant downloads?